1. Make sure you still track their hours
2. You have to make sure that their pay for the day equals at least the minimum wage plus overtime if applicable.
3. Make sure it is done as a w-2. You cannot 1099 employees.

I think we need a little more info. Do you only use these guys once in a while? If they are truly employees they need to be paid hourly. The labor laws are very specific. You also can't make them salaried either by law. Paying by the job implies you are treating them as sub-contractors, another legal no-no. If you are trying to get around labor laws you are playing with fire, as one call from an employee and you could find yourself in a lot of trouble.

ok what do you think I should pay them hourly starting out on all residental? and once in a while commercial lawns iam probably only going to have one employee at a time. and they will be going back and forth doing different jobs switching with me.